31 July 2014

(No) Apologies Necessary?

Other Catholic sites have very ably covered the systematic persecution and extermination of Christians in Mosul and other parts of the Middle East, principally Rorate Caeli. The Islamic group ISIS is reported to be the principal force behind this persecution in Iraq. Christians, as a percentage of population, have been dwindling throughout the Holy Land, as Israeli and Arab fighting and social policies have put the squeeze on them.In the Gaza strip, Israeli and Hamas are fighting again as part of the on-again, off-again struggle between Israel and Palestine. What cannot be denied is that the percentage of civilian-to-combatant deaths at the hands of Israeli forces is exceedingly high. Of course, the land area of Gaza is tiny-- almost like shooting fish in a barrel. But as this CNN report shows (warning: graphic images), the airstrikes launched by Israel are very likely to result in large numbers of civilian casualties.So far, no apologies from ISIS, and no apologies from Israel.The only apologies come from the Catholic Church, for supposed wrongs supposedly committed long ago by persons not acting on behalf of the Catholic Church. How many mea culpas to other world religions-- all of them false-- do we need to have made on our behalf by our leadership? Do these apologies produce any tangible good for the Church or for Catholics around the world? Do they ever produce a like apology from other religious or political leaders?It seems to me that these apologies ought to end. Maybe they will, when there are no Catholics left in the Holy Land that could give the Muslims or Israelis any more offense.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Physically, the Gaza strip is the size of Philadelphia. It is the most densely populated area of the Middle East. The abuse victim (Holocaust) has become the abuser. Dropping thousands of bombs into this fish bowl will not bring peace whatsoever. It will make the survivors (if there are any) bitter for the thousands of civilians being killed. Tens of thousands of men, women and children will live the rest of their lives with Post Traumatic Distress Syndrome. There is no hope. As Pope Francis said, there is nothing "just" whatsoever about this bombing.And yet, the US Congress, falling over themselves to appease the second strongest lobby in the USA, IAPAC, (the first is the NRA), voted to send over $250 million in more arms to Israel. Please do yourself a favor and read the headlines in any newspaper outside the USA. The news here in the states is incredibly biased toward Israel, whose stated goal is to own Gaza and push the Palestinians into the sea. Your tax dollars at work...TIYS

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“You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis. No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day."